‘Big Time Miss – an absurdist dance-dream’

In Big Time Miss, a group of comic performers is forced to remove their clownish masks and let their rich emotional inner worlds speak, as they weather the turbulence of their real lives.

Within a constantly shifting cloudscape of theatrical possibility, an absurdist dream-land unfolds, carried by Rock Bottom Movement’s signature style: uninhibited, athletic contemporary dance-theatre.

Big Time Miss is a surreal dance epic in which the dancers’ own biographies become the stage for an intense confrontation: funny people facing emotions that are anything but funny. Through Rock Bottom’s typical clash of hyper-physical energy and theatrical directness, the performance explores what it means to be ambitious, vulnerable, fearful and in love.

Alyssa Martin – choreographer, founder and artistic director of Rock Bottom Movement (Toronto) – is known for work in which surrealism, humour and modern dance meet. She creates dance-theatre in which humour sets the rhythm and empathy points the way.

The original soundtrack for Big Time Miss is a collaboration between indie sensations Semiah and Jacobi Vanderham. Semiah – a groundbreaking Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk) pop-electro-R&B artist – is celebrated for her honeyed voice and unique blend of R&B, electronica, hip-hop, post-punk, dream-pop and Indigenous vocal techniques. Jacobi, a Montréal-based producer and performance artist, composes for film, theatre and dance, and also releases alt-pop as Telehorn.

The dancers of Rock Bottom Movement, who have worked together for almost a decade, form the powerful core of this full-evening performance. With boldness, humour and unexpected poignancy, Alyssa Martin creates work that Intermission Magazine described as “as wildly exuberant as it is intelligent.” The strength of the company lies in its mix of explosive energy, sharp humour and surprising emotion.